Jesus or Nietzsche: How Should We Live Our Lives? (Ethical Theory and Practice, 259) - Softcover

Raymond Angelo Belliotti

Softcover

ISBN 10: 9042036591 ISBN 13: 9789042036598

Publisher: Brill Academic Pub, 2013

Synopsis

This book reconstructs the cornerstones of Jesus's moral teachings about how to lead a good, even exemplary, human life. It does so in a way that is compatible with the most prominent, competing versions of the historical Jesus. The work also contrast Jesus' understanding of the best way to lead our lives with that of Friedrich Nietzsche. Both Jesus and Nietzsche were self-consciously moral revolutionaries. Jesus refashioned the imperatives of Jewish law to conform to what he was firmly convinced was the divine will. Nietzsche aspired to transvalue the dominant values of his time -which themselves were influenced greatly by Christianity- in service of what he took to be a higher vision. The interplay of these radical versions of the good human life, seasoned with critical commentary emerging from modern findings in the sciences and humanities, opens possibilities and lines of inquiry that can inform our choices in answering that enduring, paramount question, "How should we live our lives?"

About this title

About the Author:

Raymond Angelo Belliotti is SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy at the State University of New York at Fredonia. He has published thirteen other books including Justifying Law (1992), Good Sex (1993), What is the Meaning of Human Life? (2001), Happiness is Overrated (2004), Dante’s Deadly Sins (2011), and Shakespeare and Philosophy (2012). Belliotti has received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, the William T. Hagan Young Scholar/Artist Award, the Kasling Lecture Award for Excellence in Research and Scholarship, and the SUNY Foundation Research and Scholarship Recognition Award.

Review:

A subtle interpreter of both Jesus and Nietzsche. ... Belliotti writes well and with conviction, and it is a refreshing to see a commentator who, where appropriate, confronts and criticizes not just Nietzsche but also Jesus forthrightly. ... recommended to both Nietzsche scholars and theologians, as well as a wider range of readers who simply seek to improve their lives. Religious Studies. Volume 50 (2014)

About this edition

• Publisher: Brill Academic Pub
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 9042036591
• ISBN 13: 9789042036598
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 254